Bret Gives Up the Dream
Synopsis The band's poor financial state leads Bret to get a job as a human billboard to help make ends meet. However, it interferes with the band's gig at a travel expo, so Murray and Jemaine replace Bret with a cassette tape in hopes of outdoing the flashier Australian display. Bret is attracted to a girl, Coco, at his new job. Plot Starved for cash, Bret and Jemaine apply for jobs as human billboards. Only Bret gets the job however, which causes problems when the band finally gets a gig at a travel expo. Murray and Jemaine confront Bret at his new job, and this leads to a debate on the chicken/egg causality dilemma. Unable to attend because of his job, Bret records his part onto a cassette tape for Jemaine to play along with. Murray decides the tape is as good as the real thing and fires Bret. At the travel fair, Murray and Jemaine's efforts to promote New Zealand are ridiculed by a smug Australian official, Maxwell, and his contingent of bikini girls. Meanwhile, Bret develops a crush on Coco, a new arrival to the sign holding team. Songs Inner City Pressure Inner City Pressure begins near the start of the episode, after Bret and Jemaine lament their poor financial state upon having to resort to eating food Bret has found in the street. The song and video are performed in the style of "West End Girls" by the Pet Shop Boys. She's So Hot, BOOM! She's So Hot, BOOM! is an inner monologue sung by Bret while conversing with Coco, the attractive new sign holder. The song is performed in a electronic/reggae style similar to that of Jamaican artist Shaggy. The lyrics centre around his attraction to Coco but are distinguished by the fact that nearly all nouns are replaced by the word "boom". The accompanying video features Bret and Coco dancing in front of an animated background and has strong similarities to the Black Eyed Peas' "Hey Mama" video. Also featured prominently during this sequence is a 1980s Casio DG20 digital guitar. Rock the Party The end of Rock the Party is seen being performed by Jemaine at the Travel Expo. Bret is not present, but he provides musical accompaniment and back-up vocals via a pre-recorded cassette tape. This song, whose lyrics consist mostly of the words "rock the party", makes an appearance in several future episodes. Trivia *Sutton Foster, who plays Coco in this episode, is an award-winning Broadway actress. In 2002 she won the Tony Award for Best Lead Actress in a Musical for her role in Thoroughly Modern Millie. Frank Wood, who plays Murray's assistant, Greg, has also won a Tony Award. *The Toothbrush Fence that Murray refers to is an existing attraction. It can be found near Te Pahu, a small town 30km southwest of the city of Hamilton, New Zealand5. It is one of a number of other novelty fence tourist attractions that can be found in New Zealand, such as the Cardrona Bra Fence. *The character Coco is named after fellow New Zealand rap duo, Coco Solid. Category:Season One Episodes